Siliken Manufacturing Files Petition for Bankruptcy

Siliken Manufacturing USA, and its wholly owned subsidiary Siliken USA Inc., both based in Carlsbad, filed concurrent bankruptcy petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of California in San Diego.

Both entities, subsidiaries of Spain’s Siliken Group, came to San Diego in 2010 with plans of making solar panels and creating hundreds of clean jobs here. Siliken opened a panel manufacturing plant and distribution center in Otay Mesa and hired some 100 workers, but it soon decided to relocate the operation to Tijuana.

In recent years, intense competition in the solar equipment industry especially from China along with a tepid U.S. economy spelled the local subsidiaries’ demise, the company said.

“It has become increasingly clear that the Siliken Companies will not have the capital resources they need to move forward with their business strategy due to continued weak U.S. economy, along with an environment of continued downward pressures for PV (photovoltaic) solar energy products and the lack of outside investment sources,” said Scott Sporrer, general manager of Siliken USA.

According to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Diego Jan. 7, Siliken Manufacturing had estimated assets of $1 million to $10 million, and estimated liabilities of $10 million to $50 million.

It also listed 100 to 199 creditors making claims against the companies. The largest of the creditors and the amount of their claims are Gintech Energy Corp., $1.48 million; Motech Industries Inc., $797,100; Solartech Energy Corp., $370,100; Aldinet Green Components, $360,800; and Mosel Vitelie Inc., $236,566.